WAUSAU – Well-intentioned efforts to save the lives of heroin addicts might actually be contributing to the growing problem of heroin abuse in central Wisconsin, an expert said Tuesday.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Intelligence Analyst John Kumm was in Wausau on Tuesday to address 40 members of the Marathon County Alcohol and Other Drug Partnership Council, a group dedicated to drug-abuse education and prevention.

Kumm said the growing use of Narcan, which now is carried by local EMTs and is used to reverse the effects of heroin overdoses, is a catch 22: It is saving lives in the short term, but perhaps imperiling more in the long term.

“There is really not a city in the state that doesn’t have a heroin issue, and it’s really getting worse.”

John Kumm, FBI agent

"(Narcan) is great because it gives an individual another chance at life, another chance at being clean," he said. But that also means the addict could continue to use drugs and perhaps share dirty needles and spread heroin throughout the community and the state.

He referred to a New York Times article about an addict in Hudson, in which a 23-year-old man said he had started to recover from addiction in prison, but only after five overdoses. Kumm wondered aloud how many lives the young man had touched with heroin before he found himself in prison and decided to get clean.

Needle exchanges have created a similar dilemma because on one hand, the facilities decrease the spread of HIV and AIDS. But the exchanges, which provide needles, Narcan and other paraphernalia to inject heroin, reduce "logistical barriers" for users, according to the report.

Kumm wasn't suggesting that communities halt these life-saving efforts. He was sharing the information to illustrate the depth of a heroin problem that is growing across Wisconsin and the Midwest.

"There is really not a city in the state that doesn't have a heroin issue, and it's really getting worse," he said.

Kumm was citing an intra-agency law enforcement report on the state of heroin in Wisconsin, which he helped author. The report is the first of its kind in the nation, which makes it difficult to compare the trends in Wisconsin to regional trends, he said. The agencies decided to focus on heroin because the drug is a primary concern for police throughout the state, he said.

He called on communities to help stem the tide of heroin use.

"This is something we all have a hand in trying to stop, trying to prevent," he said.

Melissa Dotter, Drug Free Communities Program coordinator for Marathon County, said the county spent $5 million last year to address substance abuse, including heroin.

Heroin comes to Wisconsin communities from Mexico and South America via large metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Kumm said. The drug is then trafficked primarily by gang members into the state, he said. The drug affects even parts of the state not known for gang activity because people will pick up heroin in large metro areas and bring small quantities — so small they are difficult for police to track and control — to rural areas. Think of all the places one gram of anything could be hidden in a car, he said, and you can imagine the trouble police have finding drug stashes.

The report found that most users of heroin in the state are white men between the ages of 21 years old and 35 years old. With an increase in heroin use often comes an increase in crimes such as shoplifting and burglary, he said — minor infractions that support users' addictions, but crimes that add up.

He said he hoped that communities would be able to prevent people from getting addicted in the first place because, "once (heroin) gets you ... it doesn't let go."

Alison Dirr can be reached at 715-845-0658. Find her on Twitter as @AlisonDirr